Perspectives; Thoughts; Comments; Opinions; Discussions

Posts tagged ‘American Federation of Teachers’

Randi Weingarten Cites ‘Uptown Klan’ Argument to Demonize Parental Rights Movement


By: Tyler O’Neil / @Tyler2ONeil / September 13, 2023

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/13/randi-weingarten-cites-uptown-klan-argument-demonize-parental-rights-movement/

Randi Weingarten in an orange shirt with the AFT logo gestures angrily behind a podium

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten cited the Southern Poverty Law Center in demonizing the parental rights movement. Pictured: Weingarten speaks during March for Our Lives 2022 on June 11, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images/March For Our Lives)

A top teachers union boss cited a far-left smear factory in demonizing the parental rights movement by comparing it to the “Uptown Klans” that opposed the end of racial segregation in the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

“Those same words that you heard in terms of wanting segregation post Brown v. Board, those same words you hear today,” Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a podcast interview published Tuesday.

“I was kind of gobsmacked when I was talking to Southern Poverty Law Center, and they showed me the same words, ‘choice,’ ‘parental rights,’ and an attempt to divide parents versus teachers,” Weingarten added. “At that point, it was white parents versus other parents, but it’s the same kind of words.”

The AFT president went on to describe former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, conservative commentator Chris Rufo, and Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, as “extremists” who want “the end of public education as we know it.”

“A Rufo will say we need to create universal public school distrust to get to universal vouchers,” Weingarten said. “Others want it because they hate knowledge or they fear broad-based knowledge.”

“They want to have a basically, a Christian ideology—their particular Christian ideology—dominate the country, as opposed to a country that was born out of the free exercise of religion,” she added.

Weingarten’s talking points heavily echo the Southern Poverty Law Center, a far-left organization notorious for branding mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits as “hate groups” or “antigovernment extremists” and placing them on a map with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan.

As I explain in my book “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center,” the SPLC took the program it has used to bankrupt organizations associated with the Ku Klux Klan and weaponized it against conservative groups, partially to scare its donors into ponying up cash and partially to silence ideological opponents. In 2019, amid a racial discrimination and sexual harassment scandal that led the SPLC to fire its co-founder, a former employee came forward, calling the “hate” accusations a “highly profitable scam.” In 2012, a terrorist used the “hate map” to target a Christian nonprofit in Washington, D.C. While the SPLC condemned the attack, it kept the attack’s target on its “hate map.”

Earlier this year, the SPLC added parental rights groups, such as Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, to the “hate map,” branding them “antigovernment groups.”

Before the SPLC released its updated map in June, an SPLC researcher compared the modern parental rights movement to parents who supported segregation after Brown v. Board. The researcher, Maya Henson Carey, wrote about “a massive resistance countermovement that birthed such groups as white Citizens’ Councils or ‘Uptown Klans,’ comprised mostly of middle- to upper-class white Southerners seeking to preserve their segregationist way of life.”

“Today, groups like Moms for Liberty, Parents Defending Education, and Parents Against CRT work diligently with politicians, right-wing celebrities, and extremist groups to spread their messages of hate, lobbying for anti-CRT and anti-LGBTQ legislation and making sweeping changes by influencing school boards to fire superintendents, constrain diverse curricula and ban books,” Carey wrote. “Our country, communities, and schools are again under attack by the descendants of hate groups of decades past, spewing the same hateful messages dressed up with fresh political rhetoric.”

Carey did not acknowledge the legitimacy of parents’ concerns, which center around divisive ideologies teaching kids to judge one another on the basis of their skin color, pornographic books and transgender lessons for young children in school, and the repeated closures of school altogether during the COVID-19 pandemic. Weingarten echoed the SPLC’s rhetoric, framing the parental rights movement as an attack on education. Yet in recent years, public schools have adopted an astonishing hostility to parents, such as blatant attempts to hide their children’s health concerns—and potential gender “transitions”—from them.

The teachers union boss claimed that Rufo is trying to “create universal public school distrust,” but she has it backward. Rufo has focused on exposing the divisive ideologies that have taken over public education across the United States, and his message resonates because so many Americans have already learned to distrust public education because it alienated them first.

The American Federation of Teachers did not respond to a request for comment on whether Weingarten considers the SPLC reliable and endorses its attacks on groups like Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education.

Category:

Education, Political

Tagged with:

‘Showing Their True Self’: Biden Admin Empowers Teachers Unions To Push Gender Ideology And Critical Race Theory


By REAGAN REESE, CONTRIBUTOR | October 02, 2022

Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2022/10/02/teachers-unions-gender-identity-crt-biden-admin-power/

March for Our Lives 2022
(Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for March For Our Lives)
  • Teachers unions are helping school districts implement Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender identity through different initiatives such as LGBTQ badges, summer reading lists and advertisements. 
  • The more recent push by the unions comes from the backing of the Biden administration, whose beliefs align with the teachers unions. 
  • “Teachers unions are certainly embracing ‘wokeness’ and showing their true self: their actions show they don’t care about the academic success of our kids, they only care about money and furthering their own political ambitions,” Parents Defending Education Director of Community Engagement Mailyn Salabarria told the Daily Caller News Foundation. 

Teachers’ unions have a long history of political action, but now teachers unions are advocating for gender identity and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to be taught in schools. This recent push has come because of the support of the Biden administration, experts tell the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Teachers unions have been notorious for entering political races; in the 2021-2022 school year, the nation’s two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, poured millions into political funding. The belief that gender ideology and CRT should be in classrooms has long been present, but the Biden administration has empowered the beliefs to be embraced, experts told the DCNF. (RELATED: Major Teachers Union Goes On Strike, Delaying The First Day Of School For Thousands)

“I was a former school board member from 2016 and 2020 and we did not see this stuff like we’re seeing now,” Laura Zorc, director of education reform for Building Education for Students Together, a parental rights in education organization, told the DCNF. “I was not a school board member under the Biden administration. I’ve seen a radical change starting to take place in January 2021 when he took office. Underneath the school districts, you had people that had those beliefs in those feelings that we should be embracing this, but there was never that support and this is really where we see all this coming from, the Biden administration.”

As a part of a summer reading list in August, the National Education Association recommended students read “Why We Fly” by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal, a book that describes two girls who kneel for the national anthem. The book explicitly talks about marijuana use and is paired with discussion questions on activism.

In September, an Ohio chapter of the National Education Association provided Hilliard City Schools in Columbus, Ohio, with LGBTQ ally badges that featured a flag with the words “I’m Here.” The badges were for educators to wear in order to show their support for the LGBTQ community.

The badges featured a QR code that took students to the National Education Association’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ Caucus website which provides adult resources on sexual education. An Ohio parental rights in education group called the website “age-inappropriate” and said it “crosses the line.”

“The way that they’re bringing this in is through an inclusive, safe environment, you know, the mental health aspect,” Zorc told the DCNF. “‘If our kids don’t feel safe, then they’re not going to be able to learn so we have to fix that because that helps us improve the quality of academics if our kids are feeling more safe at school.’ When I look at this, it’s hard to separate. It’s not one group of LGBTQ teachers. It’s not one group that’s wanting the Critical Race Theory ideologies. It’s really coming from that Democratic teacher union leadership like these Randi Weingartens and people like that.”

Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The New Jersey National Education Association ran an ad ahead of the 2022-2023 school year that depicted parents who speak out against gender identity and CRT as “extremists.” The ad cites two articles, one describing groups working to remove books featuring LGBTQ and CRT imagery from school libraries and the other discussing a New Jersey state senator’s bill which prohibits lessons on gender identity for kindergarten through sixth grade.

About a year ago, the National School Boards Association sent a letter to the Biden administration comparing parents at school board meetings to “domestic terrorists.” Attorney General Merrick Garland called on the FBI to “use its authority” on the parents who disrupt school board meetings and pose a threat.

“The current administration actions also show they are on board with making politics and ideologies the priority in the classrooms,” Parents Defending Education Director of Community Engagement Mailyn Salabarria told the DCNF, “instead of addressing the historically low proficiency scores of our students and the learning loss they’ll suffer for generations to come. And this has emboldened teachers unions and activist teachers to push for even more ideology instead of the basics of academic instruction.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks during a protest near the office of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to ask him to work on gun-safety legislation on June 03, 2022 in Miami, Florida. Following the latest mass shootings some activists across the country are asking their politicians to enact commonsense gun laws. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks during a protest near the office of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to ask him to work on gun-safety legislation on June 03, 2022 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Ahead of the 2022-2023 school year, the Department of Education (DOE) called for action to address a nationwide teacher shortage. The DOE announced partnerships with schools across the country to address the problem they say was brought on during the pandemic.

“They’re saying that we have a teacher shortage,” Zorc told the DCNF. “We do not have a teacher shortage. Teachers are moving to other environments where they’re not forced to teach this stuff. So when it comes to Critical Race Theory, when it comes to this gender ideology, it is really being spearheaded from the top down. That’s why we’re seeing this massive exodus of our public school teachers, because they were waiting on retirement, but a lot of them are like, ‘I cannot even I can’t do this anymore.’”

The push from the teachers unions for CRT and gender identity curricula comes as students across the nation post record learning losses; K-12 reading levels have dropped to where they were in 1990, the largest ever drop in the scores, while math levels saw their first ever decline.

“Teachers unions are certainly embracing ‘wokeness’ and showing their true self: their actions show they don’t care about the academic success of our kids, they only care about money and furthering their own political ambitions,” Salabarria told the DCNF.

The National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers and the DOE did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Category:

Education, Political

Tagged with:

Teacher Union Pensions Invest In Firearm And Ammunition Manufacturers


Reported by Richard Pollock | Reporter | 9:12 PM 02/27/2018

SPRINGVILLE, UT – JUNE 17: This picture of an AR-15 (B) and a Ruger 10-22 (T), both semi-automatic guns at Action Target on June 17, 2016 in Springville, Utah. Semi-automatics are in the news again after the nightclub shooting in Orlando F;lord last week. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

  • Pension investments show teachers are willing to invest in the nation’s biggest gun and ammunition manufacturers
  • The issue of gun violence has focused teachers with renewed, emotional calls for gun control
  • Teacher union pension investments buy stock in gun and ammunition companies

Liberal teachers may claim they abhor guns, but their pension investments show they are willing to invest in the nation’s biggest gun and ammunition manufacturers, according to a review of teacher institutional investments by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The issue of gun violence has focused teachers across the country with renewed, emotional calls for gun control following the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., by alleged gunman 19-year old Nikolas Cruz. Seventeen were killed.

Despite teacher’s calls for gun control and a ban on semi-automatic rifles, teacher pension funds have invested for years in gun and ammunition companies such as Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Vista Outdoor; the Olin Corporation, which sells Winchester gun products; and American Outdoor Brands, which now manufacture Smith & Wesson weapons.

The four manufacturers produce a wide range of pistols, revolvers, shotguns, high-performance and semi-automatic AR rifles, silencers, range finders and scopes. AR-style rifles were used in the Florida shooting and 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. 

Teacher’s views on guns have been decidedly negative. A 2013 poll by the National Education Association (NEA) found 76 percent of NEA members “support a proposal to ban the sale and possession of military-style semi-automatic assault weapons to everyone except the police and military.”

The public fails to notice that teacher and public employee unions — even in progressive states such as New York and California — have invested in gun and ammunition companies. It has been lining the pockets of teachers upon retirement.

Left-wing unions are now turning wrath toward their own pension fund investments in the nation’s top firearm and ammunition manufacturers.

“We definitely don’t agree with our money being invested in those types of companies,” said Melissa Tomlinson, the assistant executive director of Badass Teachers Association, an activist teacher’s group representing 65,000 teachers. They have ties to the national American Federation of Teachers.

“We are in touch with unions to make sure our pension managers are responsibly looking at what our pensions are invested in,” Tomlinson told TheDCNF in an interview.

The Florida Education Association (FEA) is urging Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, to remove investments from gun manufacturers now in the Florida Retirement System Pension Plan. Their pension plan currently owns stock in Vista Outdoors; Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Smith & Wesson and Olin.

FEA President Joanne McCall said she hopes the money could be divested elsewhere in light of the Cruz shooting. “We would hope and encourage the governor and the cabinet to divest from those companies and place our money somewhere else,” McCall said, according to the Orlando Weekly.

However, some school fund managers are proud of their investment in guns and ammunition companies. David Bradley, a board member of the Texas Permanent School Fund, told TheDCNF the teachers who are upset about investment in gun companies “are a bunch of weenies.”

“We don’t kowtow to every special interest that wants us to divest. We’re in the business of making money for public education,” he told TheDCNF in an interview.

“If you’re a fiduciary, you’re responsible for investment returns, not to push my own personal agenda,” Bradley stated.

Teacher union pension investments from coast-to-coast have continued to buy stock in gun and ammunition companies despite the outrage expressed by many teachers following recent school shootings.

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, one of the largest pension funds in the country, quietly liquidated its $2.7 million investment in Vista Outdoor Inc. last week, a CalSTRS spokeswoman told TheDCNF. Vista Outdoor is a company that produces arms and ammunition for hunters and the military. “The Shooting Sports segment includes pistol, rifle, rimfire, shotshell ammunition, primers, centerfire rifles, rimfire rifles, shotguns and range systems,” according to the company’s website.

The CalSTRS spokeswoman acknowledged the teacher’s group did not issue a press release or any other public statement about its divestment in the company. However, CalSTRS continues its investment in the Olin Corp., which makes ammunition, including small-caliber military ammunition, according to a CNBC report.

New York State Teachers Retirement System owns $1.3 million in Vista Outdoor and $2.6 million in Sturm Ruger. Sturm sells pistols, revolvers and rifles. It offers 16 different rifles, including those that are on the AR rifle semi-automatic platform.

“No decision has been made on divestment of gun stocks from our portfolios,” John Cardillo, the New York pension’s spokesman, told CNBC.

TIAFF, the “Teachers Insurance and Annuity Associates-College Retirement Equities Fund,” represents five million teachers and educators, and the fund invests $6 million in Vista Outdoor; Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson, according to their institutional investment disclosures. A TIAFF spokeswoman defended the investments. “Our exposure to these companies is extraordinarily small and is confined to passive portfolios which track specific market indices, such as the Russell 2000,” the spokeswoman told TheDCNF in an email.

Katie Kaufmanis, a spokeswoman for the Public Employees Retirement Fund of Colorado, said the public employee union, which includes public school teachers, claimed their investments totaled $1.3 million and was invested in four “gun manufacturing-related companies” in indexed, passive portfolios. The investments include Vista Outdoor; Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson.

Other teacher unions with firearm investments include Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Kentucky and Texas Permanent School Fund.

“We don’t have a gun problem here in Texas,” said Bradley who, instead of running away from the investments, said he was proud of them. “The federal government goes in and declares schools to be ‘gun-free zones.’ Well the only one’s paying attention to the sign are law-abiding, rational people. It’s the ‘nut jobs’ who know if they walk in there, nobody’s going to challenge them.”

“If someone is armed, granted they might only have a 9 mm and this guy may have an AK-47 with hundreds of rounds,” Bradley added. “The reality is, though, you’ve changed the dynamic. He’s no longer going to be shooting innocent people. He’s going to go into self-protection mode to focus on who’s attacking him. So you do save lives,” he said.

The National Education Association did not reply to inquiries by TheDCNF.

Follow Richard on Twitter

Category:

Political

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud